ILFC orders 52 more 787s as Boeing nears July rollout Airbus adds to strong Paris showing by inking firm orders for 43 A330s Gallois: 'Airbus is back' Pratt signs second airline for CFM56 parts program, confirms Asian customer IAE secures V2500 engine orders, aftermarket agreements valued at up to $1.77 billion CFM wins $690 million in CFM56-5B orders Honeywell to provide 747-8 FMS Paris News from June 18, June 19
Competition for passengers in western China intensified dramatically in recent days as China Southern Airlines launched its new Chongqing Airlines over the weekend, while HNA Group subsidiary Lucky Air began operating its Chongqing-based West China Airlines last week ( ATWOnline, June 1).
Macquarie Airports yesterday announced the sale of its 44.7% stake in Aeroporti di Roma to the Gemina investment firm for €1.24 billion ($1.66 billion), nearly triple the €480 million it paid for the share in March 2003. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval. "We have been actively seeking to resolve the situation at AdR for some time.
Dutch government's proposed €25 tax on tickets for passengers departing the Netherlands drew fire from the Assn. of European Airlines. The levy is designed to bring in €350 million per year in addition to "reducing the impact of aviation on climate change," AEA said. However, said Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, "If the entire Dutch aviation sector were to close down, the impact on global CO2 emissions would be so small you could hardly measure it. But that is not what will happen.
US Dept. of Transportation issued a ruling largely in favor of the 28 airlines (seven domestic and 21 foreign) who complained in February about a variety of security, rental and terminal fees imposed by Los Angeles World Airports ( ATWOnline, April 16).
News from Travel Technology Update: "Content is king." Or is it? The driver of the last two rounds of airline-GDS negotiations was the perceived need for subscribers, particularly travel management companies, to have access to full airline content. But the No.
Etihad Airways will launch thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Singapore flights on Sept. 27 aboard an A330-200, with service becoming daily by year end. Air Canada Jazz started daily Vancouver-Sacramento flights aboard 50-seat CRJs. EasyJet launched daily London Gatwick-Palermo service aboard a new A319, which is the 20th aircraft based at LGW and the 135th in the LCC's fleet.
TAP Portugal is negotiating with Airbus regarding its order for 15 A350s, President and CEO Fernando Pinto told ATWOnline at the Paris Air Show. The Portuguese carrier was one of the first to commit to the aircraft when it placed an order for 10 plus five options in November 2005 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 22, 2005). Deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2013. "The 'old' version worked for us," Pinto revealed. "The XWB is a very different aircraft. We have to review if it fits in our fleet.
Austrian Airlines flew 1.59 billion RPKs in May, down 16.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 19.7% to 2.2 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.1 points to 72.4%. Aeroflot flew 1.98 billion RPKs in May, up 12.7% from the year-ago month. Load factor was 67.5%. Copa Airlines flew 373.1 million RPMs in May, up 20.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18.3% to 495.1 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 75.4%.
Continental Airlines and future SkyTeam partner China Southern Airlines yesterday unveiled a "strategic partnership" under which the carriers will offer loyalty program and lounge reciprocity and "extensive codesharing." Frequent-flier programs will be linked in September, with lounge access to become available when CZ joins SkyTeam later this year. From November, CO will place its code on CZ flights connecting to the US carrier's daily Newark-Beijing service as well as CZ's Guangzhou-Los Angeles service. China Southern will place its code on CO flights from LAX.
Grupo Marsans President Gonzalo Pascual confirmed to ATWOnline that his company is talking with SAS Group about the possible acquisition of Spanair ( ATWOnline, June 15). "It could be a good combination," Pascual said at the Paris Air Show. "Most of our activity is long-haul--Europe to South America--or within Latin America, whereas Spanair flies to domestic, European and North African destinations."
Worldspan signed Saudi Arabian Airlines to a multiyear technology services agreement under which the GDS will help Saudi Arabian upgrade its ticketing process to include global e-ticket processing and interlining. The carrier will adopt Worldspan ETDBase, Worldspan Interchange and other solutions.
Airbus order book overflows on first day at Paris Bombardier, AVIC I agree to cooperate on ARJ-21, CSeries development Emirates expects major widebody order later this year Lion Air orders 40 additional 737-900ERs valued at $3 billion GECAS orders six additional 777Fs valued at $1.4 billion Carson: 'Unbelievable' demand driven by nontraditional markets Embraer wins E-Jet orders from Lufthansa, JAL Boeing denies 787 problems ATR confirms 53 orders this year Additional stories
European Commission and US FAA unveiled a transatlantic emission-reduction initiative called AIRE (Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions), which EC VP-Transport Jacques Barrot said will "speed up the application of technologies and procedures having a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions." AIRE will be based on "gate-to-gate" testing and experiments on such initiatives as continuous descent approaches, the EC said. Airbus, Boeing, Air France KLM, SAS Group, Delta Air Lines and FedEx are among those companies involved in the initiative.
Finnair increased Helsinki-St. Petersburg frequencies to 20-times-weekly thanks to the award of three additional flights covered by a codeshare agreement with Rossiya. It also flies daily to Moscow Sheremetyevo in cooperation with Aeroflot. Finnair CEO Jukka Hienonen recently told ATWOnline that there are 13 Russian cities with more than 1 million people that Finnair would like to serve if it can secure permission. "Of course we can't fly to all of them, and it still isn't easy for us to get more traffic rights into Russia," he said.
US Airways Group flew 5.57 billion RPMs in May, up 0.1% from the year-ago month on a 1.6% fall in domestic and a 15.4% increase in transatlantic traffic. Consolidated capacity dropped 1.8% to 6.83 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.6 points to 81.5%. Ryanair transported 4.1 million passengers in May, up 17% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 2 points to 80%.
Southern Air announced that it completed the purchase of its 9th and 10th 747-200F from Martinair and Atlas Air respectively for use on its wet-lease and charter network. Acquisitions were internally financed, the Connecticut-based carrier said, with additional capacity to be added later this year.
The Chinese commercial aviation industry appeared to post a significant turnaround in 2006 with a collective net profit of CNY2.38 billion ($311 million) compared with a CNY1.35 billion loss in 2005. However, that reversal, outlined in the recently released CAAC annual report, largely was a result of Air China's success. The Beijing carrier reported a CNY3.19 billion net last year ( ATWOnline, March 21), which helped boost the industry back toward 2004 profit levels.
Aerolineas Argentinas is taking delivery of the second of seven 737-500s this month. Remaining aircraft will arrive in July, September, October (two) and November. The carrier said it also will take an A310 and A340 next month, a second A310 in August and a second A340 "later this year."
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings said it is forecasting a "record" profit in the second quarter despite that fact that it expects unit revenue to fall 3%-5% from the year-ago period, when it reported RASM of 10.75 cents. But nonfuel unit cost also will decline, by an estimated 5%-6% from the 6.3 cents in the second quarter of 2006 when it earned $32 million.
Italian government appointed Credit Suisse to carry out an independent evaluation of the privatization bids for Alitalia. The government put its 49.9% stake up for sale in December and short-listed three bidders: Air One owner AP Holding, the Aeroflot/Unicredito Italiano combination ( ATWOnline, June 7) and a consortium led by TPG. The latter pulled out last month ( ATWOnline, May 31). Deadline for binding offers is July 2.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey told analysts and investors last week that it would be a "mistake" to assume US carriers' "troubles are behind us" despite vastly improved earnings over the past year.
Northwest Airlines will launch 19-times-weekly Dallas/Fort Worth-New York LaGuardia service Sept. 5 aboard 124-seat A319s. Flights will operate thrice-daily on weekdays and twice-daily on Saturdays and Sundays. Viva Macau said it received approval to launch services to Tokyo, Osaka, Pusan, Manila Clark, Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City. Start dates and frequencies were not announced. The airline will begin serving Sydney on Aug. 15. It operates 767s.
